Brown to take on political ownership of drought

Saturday

Jan 25, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By Jack BarnwellCITY EDITORjbarnwell@ridgecrestca.com

Water, water and not a drop to spare.Those thoughts prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to address part of his agenda for 2014 during his State of the State address in Sacramento Wednesday morning. As California enters its third year of drought and a formal emergency has been declared, Brown said the matter has come to the forefront of California’s concerns.“Among all our uncertainties, weather is one of the most basic,” Brown said. “We can’t control it. We can only live with it, and now we have to live with a very serious drought of uncertain duration.”Brown said that “it is imperative that we do everything possible to mitigate the effects of the drought” that has impacted California. He called on Californians to conserve water and regulators to rebalance water rules, “enable voluntary transfers of water and we must prepare for forest fires.”He said the State Water Action Plan calls for water recycling, expanded storage and serious groundwater management.Brown also stressed that water conservation projects in the San Joaquin River and delta areas need to continue as well.“We also need wetlands and watershed restoration and further progress on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan,” Brown said.Brown and his entourage were in the Central Valley the week of Jan. 13 to push the Bay Delta Conversation Plan, which includes twin tunnels used to distribute water into the delta region.The drought hits especially hard for Kern County residents and business owners, mostly in the Central Valley area where agriculture is a dominant industry.In December, the State Water Project, which delegates how much water is transferred to Central Valley farmers from Northern California sources, projected it could only fulfill 5 percent of its water flow for 2014.However, some other elected leaders, at both the federal and state level, also took concern over California’s drought.Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) remained critical of Brown’s drought management plan in her response to the State of the State address.“Our state’s chronic drought conditions should make the Legislature realize that any long-term solutions we pursue must include developing more water storage and reworking our state’s burdensome environmental regulations,” Grove stated. She said the drought should not be attributed to just a lack of rainfall and a dry winter.“This drought is not just the result of a dry winter, but stems from liberal politicians and their friends in the ‘environmental’ lobby prioritizing every possible ‘endangered species’ except the people who live and work in this state, especially the farmers who feed our nation,” Grove stated.Federal leaders also took concern when House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-23rd District) signed on to co-author a piece of legislation to tackle the water concerns.The proposed House resolution, co-authored by Congressman Devin Nunes from Visalia and freshman Congressman David Valadao from Hanford, calls for turning on pumps in the San Joaquin Delta for two years to capture rainfall, temporarily halt restoration processes for two years and establish a joint House/Senate committee to develop long-term federal legislation.“As we approach another drought year in the Central Valley, it is imperative that we take immediate action to provide water supplies to our local families, farmers, and small businesses,” McCarthy said in a statement Wednesday. “Restrictive environmental regulations reduce our supplies when water is available in wet years, but exacerbates the negative impacts during years of drought. At a time when we are in dire need of water, we must provide flexibility and allow water to flow around the state.”